Background Notes on LIBATION BEARERS

Notes on The Libation Bearers, by Aeschylus

This is the second play of the trilogy known as The Oresteia, by Aeschylus. The first is Agamemnon; the last is The Eumenides.

Aeschylus (ca. 525-455 B.C., Sophocles (ca. 497-406 B.C.), and Euripides (ca. 480-406 B.C.) were the three giants of Greek drama, and their lives overlapped to some extent. Unfortunately, most of their plays have been lost.

Aeschylus is credited with the idea of a second major character, by which we mean that two important characters appeared on the stage at the same time. Sophocles introduced the idea of three major characters who interacted during the drama, and he also expanded the chorus to a force of 15.

The Oresteia concerns the House of Atreus, and the curse upon it. It is a tale full of vengeance, and leads us to ponder the question of where the cycle of retribution must end. The myth begins long before the start of the play, and it provides important background information. What I write below is gleaned from the more commonly seen versions of the tales, but students should remember that the ancient Greeks sometimes devised multiple versions of their myths.

King Pelops of Olympia sought the hand of Hippodamia, daughter of King Oenomaus, who had learned from a prophecy that he would be killed by his daughter’s husband. Thus, he challenged all suitors to a chariot race, with the proviso that if they lost the race, they would also lose their heads. In some versions of the story, he had already killed 18 of them before the challenge by Pelops. However, the latter (the great-grandfather of ORESTES) had help from Myrtilus, who agreed to sabotage the chariot of Oenomaus. In return for this service, Myrtilus would receive the virginity of Hippodamia. He replaced the bronze pins that attached the chariot wheels with pins made of beeswax (!), the chariot eventually collapsed, and Oenomaus was dragged to his death by the horses. However, when Myrtilus attempted to “collect” his payment – in some versions, he tried to rape Hippodamia – Pelops killed him on the spot. As Myrtilus was dying, he cursed Pelops and his descendants – and, as we shall see, the curse was quite a powerful one!

Pelops later exiled his two sons, Thyestes and Atreus, because they had murdered their half-brother, Chrysippus (his favorite son, born not by Hippodamia, but by the sea-nymph Axioche). The brothers fled to Mycenae (a different city than Argos, although that is what it is called in this translation!), where they would both take the throne (at various times) after the death of the rightful king.

According to one version of the story, Atreus had a golden lamb, which he gave to his wife, Aerope, to hide. However, Thyestes was also sleeping with Aerope, and she gave the lamb to him. After Atreus agreed that whoever had the lamb would be king, Thyestes revealed that it was in his possession and assumed the throne. However, Atreus was later able to regain power and banish his brother. [Thyestes had agreed to give back the kingdom only when the sun moved backward – which is exactly what happened, thanks to the gods.]

Meanwhile, it didn’t take Atreus long to figure out that Aerope and Thyestes were lovers. To punish the adultery, Atreus killed the two sons of Thyestes, cooked them, and served them to his brother – later revealing their hands and heads to confirm the source of the meal. Needless to say, Thyestes was sickened, and he vowed revenge.

Thyestes consulted with an oracle and learned that if he had a son with his own daughter, Pelopia, their child would murder Atreus. Since the Greeks believed so devoutly in their oracles, he promptly raped his daughter, and their son, AEGISTHUS (a character in this play), did indeed murder his uncle.

Of course, new twists in the story first arose. Pelopia, mortified by what had happened, abandoned the infant, who was found by a shepherd, who in turn gave him to King Atreus. Atreus adopted and raised the child as the stepbrother of his own children, AGAMEMNON and Menelaus. However, once Aegisthus was a grown man, Thyestes shared with him the family secrets, including that of his birth. Aegisthus then killed Atreus and restored his real father to the throne. Meanwhile, Agamemnon and Menelaus were exiled to Sparta, where they fled to the court of King Tyndareus.

Agamemnon, Menelaus, and Tyndareus raised an army and defeated (and in most versions killed) Thyestes. Agamemnon married CLYTEMNAESTRA, daughter of Tyndareus, while Menelaus married Helen, her half-sister.

That same Helen later ran off with Paris, Prince of Troy, precipitating the Trojan War. In order to enable to Greek fleet to sail, Agamemnon was told (by the oracle) that he had to sacrifice his own daughter, Iphigenia. [In some versions of the myth – notably in the play by Euripides – she somehow survived.] The Greeks then departed and were gone for ten years.

During the absence of Agamemnon, Clytemnaestra, still mourning the sacrifice of her daughter, became the lover of Aegisthus (who mysteriously reappeared). Then, upon Agamemnon’s return, the two contrived to murder him (and also Cassandra, a princess of Troy, whom he had taken as a captive). These events occur in the first play, Agamemnon.

Some years later, the second drama begins. As we shall see, Orestes, Agamemnon’s son, kills both Aegisthus and his own mother. Mercifully, Aeschylus did not treat other versions of the myth, including how Orestes also dealt with the children of Clytemnaestra and Aegisthus: he murdered his half-brother and (in some accounts) raped his half-sister, Erigone, who gave birth to their son, Penthilus.

The Greeks certainly understood the concept of a "dysfunctional family," didn't they?